Juice extraction module for juicer

ABSTRACT

A juice extraction module for a juicer is provided, which includes a container formed with a juice discharge port, a sieve positioned inside of the container, a screw positioned inside of the sieve to extract juice from a material, and a lid coupled to a top end of the container and formed with a input port through which the material is input. The juice extraction module includes a crushing portion formed on a top end of the screw to be narrowed upward, the crushing portion having a crushing blade formed thereon; and a crushing processing portion connected to the input port and formed in a bottom of the lid to be concave for accommodating the crushing portion.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a juice extraction module for ajuicer, and more specifically, to a juice extraction module for a juicerhaving an improved structure capable of eliminating the inconveniencethat a material should be chopped before the material is input into thejuicer.

2. Description of the Related Art

In general, a juicer includes a main body, and a juice extraction modulemounted onto the main body. The juice extraction module includes acontainer having a juice extraction space, a lid having an input portthrough which a material is input into the container, a screw forextracting juice from the material in the container, and a sieve forseparating juice and residues from each other.

The main body includes a driving motor for rotating the screw, and ashaft of the driving motor is connected to the screw in the juiceextraction module. In the conventional juicer, the material should bechopped into such a size that the screw can extract juice.

As an example, Korean Patent No. 10-0793852 discloses a juicerconfigured to cut or sever a material by a screw blade protruding from acentral axis of a screw toward a lateral side of an uppermost end.

However, in the above technique, when a material has a size larger thanthe length of the screw blade, the material should be chopped in advanceinto a size smaller than the length of the screw blade.

In addition, Korean Patent No. 10-0966607 discloses a juicer having agrater provided in an entire upper surface over a screw to crush amaterial just before juice is extracted.

However, there are problems in that the crush using the grater isachieved at a speed higher than an ordinary low speed of the juicer andalso a user should press the material against the grater by a largeforce in order to prevent the rotation of the material due to the highspeed of the grater.

Also, since the conventional juicer cuts the material and then mills thecut pieces of the material while they are pressed against a sieve in ajuice extraction process, the sieve may be deformed in a moment by thepressed cut pieces.

Such deformation destroys a molding for holding a shape of the sieve ordecreases the bond between the molding and the sieve to generate a gapbetween the molding and the sieve causing a leakage of residues and adecrease in juice extraction efficiency.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention provide a juice extraction modulefor a juicer, in which a structure of crushing a material in advance isprovided in a lid and a screw to eliminate an inconvenient procedure ofchopping or cutting a material in advance before inputting the material.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided ajuice extraction module for a juicer, which includes a container 100formed with a juice discharge port 101, a sieve 200 positioned inside ofthe container 100, a screw 300 positioned inside of the sieve 200 toextract juice from a material, and a lid 400 coupled to a top end of thecontainer 100 and formed with a input port 410 through which thematerial is input.

The juice extraction module includes a crushing portion 500 formed on atop end of the screw 300 to be narrowed upward, the crushing portion 500having a crushing blade 510 formed thereon; and a crushing processingportion 600 connected to the input port 410 and formed in a bottom ofthe lid 400 to be concave for accommodating the crushing portion 500,wherein the crushing blade 510 crushes the material in advance withinthe crushing processing portion 600.

According to one embodiment, the crushing blade 510 is formed so thatthe material input through the input port 410 is crushed while a lateralside of the material is pushed outwards, and the crushing processingportion 600 is provided with an inner surface to hold the materialpushed outwards by the crushing blade 510, whereby the material can becrushed between the crushing blade 510 and the inner surface of thecrushing processing portion 600.

According to one embodiment, the crushing processing portion 600 isformed to cover an entire bottom region of the input port 410 at theheight of the crushing processing portion 600 connected to a bottom endof the input port 410.

According to one embodiment, a bottom region of the input port 410 ispositioned to be offset within a semicircle region of a circle having adiameter corresponding to a diameter of the crushing processing portion600 with a central shaft 310 of the screw 300 as a center.

According to one embodiment, the inner surface of the crushingprocessing portion 600 comprises a crushing processing surface 610formed to be gradually close to the crushing blade 510 in a direction inwhich the crushing blade 510 runs from the input port 410.

According to one embodiment, the inner surface of the crushingprocessing portion 600 comprises a material guide surface 620 continuingfrom the input port 410 and formed to be inclined toward a central axisof the crushing portion 500, whereby the material guide surface 620guides the material so that a lateral side of the material begins to becrushed by the crushing blade 510.

According to one embodiment, a bottom end of the material guide surface620 may conform to an inner surface of the sieve 200.

According to one embodiment, the crushing portion 500 passes over a topend of the sieve 200 and is accommodated in the crushing processingportion 600, and the crushing blade 510 cooperates with the crushingprocessing portion 600 to crush the material.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda juice extraction module for a juicer, which includes a container 100formed with a residue discharge port 102 and a juice discharge port 101;a sieve 200 positioned inside of the container 100; a screw 300positioned inside of the sieve 200 to extract juice from a material, anda lid 400 coupled to a top end of the container 100 and formed with ainput port 410 through which the material is input, wherein a crushingportion 500 is formed on a top end of the screw 300 to be narrowedupward, the crushing portion 500 having a crushing blade 510 formedthereon, wherein the lid 400 is formed with a crushing processingportion 600, the crushing processing portion 600 being connected to theinput port 410 and accommodating the crushing portion 500, wherein theinput port 410 is disposed to be offset outwards from a central axis ofthe screw 300 and has a width larger than the shortest distance from thecentral axis of the screw 300 to an inner circumferential surface of atop end of the sieve 200, wherein the crushing processing portion 600 isformed with a material guide surface for assisting guidance of thematerial from the input port 410 to the sieve 200.

The crushing blade 510 and the crushing processing portion 600 areformed so that a distance between the crushing blade 510 and an innersurface of the crushing processing portion 600 is gradually reduced bythe rotation of the crushing blade 510

The crushing processing portion 600 comprises a crushing processingsurface 610, the crushing processing surface 610 is formed with at leastone milling blade 630.

A conventional juicer has inconvenience and difficulty in that anincrease in length of a screw blade increases an entire outer diameterof a screw, and thus, a sieve, a container and a lid should bemanufactured large so as to be fitted to the screw. However, accordingto embodiments of the present invention, a material having a diameterlarger than a length of a screw blade can be used, and the material canbe crushed into a size suitable for extracting juice without increasingan outer diameter of a screw by a crushing processing portion formed tobe concave in a bottom of a lid and a crushing portion accommodated inthe crushing processing portion and cooperating with the crushingprocessing portion.

Thus, embodiments of the present invention eliminate the inconvenienceand cumbersomeness that a user should chop a material before thematerial is input.

In addition, a space between the crushing blade and the crushingprocessing portion is gradually narrowed and the material is caught andsimultaneously dragged into between the crushing blade and the crushingprocessing portion, so that the material is effectively crushed whilebeing automatically supplied to the screw without inconveniently pushingthe material.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a juice extraction module for ajuicer according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the juice extraction module accordingto the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a lid of the juice extraction module shownin FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the lid taken along line A-A of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the lid taken along line B-B of FIG. 3;and

FIG. 6 is a front view showing a screw having a crushing portionprovided on a top end thereof as a portion of juice extraction moduleshown in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The following embodiments are provided only for illustrative purposes.

Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the followingembodiments but may be implemented in other forms.

In the drawings, the widths, lengths, thicknesses and the like ofelements may be exaggerated for convenience of illustration.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a juice extraction module for ajuicer according to one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is asectional view showing the juice extraction module according to theembodiment of the present invention; FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a lidof the juice extraction module shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 4 is a sectionalview of the lid taken along line A-A of FIG. 3; FIG. 5 is a sectionalview of the lid taken along line B-B of FIG. 3; and FIG. 6 is a frontview showing a screw having a crushing portion provided on a top endthereof as a portion of juice extraction module shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 6, a juice extraction module for a juiceraccording to one embodiment of the present invention includes acontainer 100 having a juice extraction space defined therein and havinga juice discharge port 101 and a residue discharge port 102 respectivelyformed in one and another sides of an outer surface thereof, a sieve 200installed inside of the container 100 to separate juice from materialresidues generated in juice extraction, a screw 300 installed inside ofthe sieve 200 to extract juice from the material, and a lid 400installed to a top end of the container 100 and formed with an inputport 410, through which a material is input.

Although not shown, an opening/closing means for selectively opening andclosing the juice discharge port 101 of the container 100 may be appliedto the juice extraction module.

As the opening/closing means, a cock valve may be used. The cock valveincludes a valve body moving forward or backward in the juice dischargeport 101, wherein a leading end of the valve body is preferably orientedtoward the juice discharge port 101.

In addition, the cock valve may include a juice discharge cock, whichmay be selectively connected to the juice discharge port 101 by thevalve body.

As a means for opening and closing the juice discharge port 101, avariety of means may be employed in addition to the above structure.

A crushing portion 500 is formed on a top end of the screw 300 to have ashape narrowed upward.

The crushing portion 500 has further a crushing blade 510 formedthereon, wherein the crushing blade 510 extends in the shape of a spiralhaving a width gradually narrowed upward, more preferably toward a topapex of the crushing portion 500.

A central shaft 310 of the screw 300 may be formed on the top apex ofthe crushing portion 500.

The lid 400 has a crushing processing portion 600 formed in a bottomthereof to be concave upward from a face coupled with the container 100in order to accommodate the crushing portion 500.

The crushing processing portion 600 has a shape gradually narrowedtoward a top apex corresponding to the crushing portion 500.

In addition, the top apex of the crushing processing portion 600 isformed with a shaft hole, into which the central shaft 310 of the screw300 is rotatably fitted.

While being connected with the input port 410, the crushing processingportion 600 cooperates with the crushing portion 500 to serve to crushthe material input through the input port 410.

The crushing blade 510 is inserted and positioned in the crushingprocessing portion 600, and the crushing blade 510 cooperates with aspecific shape of an inner surface of the crushing processing portion600 to crush the material.

The input port 410 is offset toward one side with respect to a centralaxis of the screw 300 and simultaneously should have such a large bottomwidth W (or inner diameter) that a large-sized material such as an appleis allowed to be input without being chopped.

The sieve 200 has the largest inner diameter at the top end thereof, andthus, a distance from the central axis of the screw 300 to the sieve 200is set up to be largest at the top end of the sieve 200.

The bottom width of the input port 410 is set up to be larger than theshortest distance from the central axis of the screw 300 to an innercircumferential surface of the top end of the sieve 200.

Accordingly, as viewed from the top, a region of the input port 410partially overlaps with a top end region of the sieve 200 and is out ofthe top end region of the sieve 200.

Embodiments of the present invention have a large difference in that aconventional juicer has a small-sized input port so as to be generallypositioned inside of a region of a sieve.

Also, the crushing processing portion 600 is formed to cover the entirebottom region of the input port 410 at the height of the crushingprocessing portion 600 connected to the bottom end of the input port410.

Further, the input port 410 is within a circle region having a diametercorresponding to the diameter of the crushing processing portion 600with the central shaft 310 of the screw 300 as the center, and morepreferably, is positioned to be offset within one side of semicircleregions into which the circle region is divided by a line passingthrough the central shaft 310.

In addition, the inner surface of the crushing processing portion 600,particularly an inner crushing processing surface 610 is formed to begradually close to the crushing blade 510 of the crushing portion 500 ina direction in which the crushing blade 510 runs from the bottom end ofthe input port 410.

Accordingly, when the material is expelled out by the crushing blade510, the material is held by the inner surface of the crushingprocessing portion 600, so that a lateral side of the material iscrushed by the crushing blade 510, and the material is dragged into thecrushing processing portion according to the rotation of the crushingportion.

This provides an effect of automatically crushing the material even if auser inputs the material and then does not push the material again.

The crushing portion 500 further has one or more auxiliary crushingblades formed thereon so that they assist the crushing blade 510 tocrush the material more effectively.

In such a case, the crushing blade 510 first crushes the material, andthe auxiliary crushing blades may crush the material more finely.

Also, as the material is dragged into the crushing processing portion,the force of pressing the screw downward is generated, so that there isan effect of suppressing the upward movement of the screw generated bypermeation of material residues between a bottom surface of the screwand a floor surface of the container.

As mentioned above, since a portion of the input port 410 extends out ofthe top end region of the sieve 200, a material guide surface 620 isprovided on the inner surface of the crushing processing portion 600 sothat the material input through the input port 410 can be guided to thesieve 200.

That is, the material guide surface 620 is provided as an element forsmoothly connecting the sieve 200 and the input port 410 extending tothe outside to such an extent as to use an uncut apple as it is.

Also, the material guide surface 620 continues from the input port 410while overlapping with the input port 410 and is formed to be inclinedtoward the central axis of the crushing portion 500, thereby causing alateral side of the material to begin to be crushed by the crushingblade 510.

In order to improve crushing processibility, one or more milling blades630 may be further formed on the crushing processing surface 610.

In this embodiment, the plurality of milling blades 630 are spaced apartfrom each other and extend from an upper portion of the crushingprocessing surface 610 to a lower portion thereof, and each of themilling blades 630 is gradually close to the crushing blade 510 as itgoes from the upper portion toward the lower portion.

The crushing portion 500 passes over the top end of the container 100and sieve 200 and is accommodated and positioned in the crushingprocessing portion 600 positioned in the lid 400. The crushing portion500 and the crushing processing portion 600 cooperate with each other tofully crush the material input through the input port 410, therebymaking it possible to smoothly extract juice from the material even ifthe user does not chop the material in advance.

Since the juice is extracted from the material fully crushed as above inthe sieve 200, there is an effect of preventing the sieve 200 from beingdeformed.

In addition, a lateral side of the material is processed by the crushingblade 510, which can be performed only by forming the crushing portion500 to have a length suitable for the height of the material. Thus, theprotruding length of the screw blade need not extend in order to cut thematerial itself.

Further, a sieve insertion step 420 may be formed in a bottom of thecrushing processing portion 600 to be snugly fitted to the top end ofthe sieve 200.

The bottom end of the material guide surface 620 meets the sieveinsertion step 420 in a stepwise manner, wherein the bottom end of thematerial guide surface 620 is formed to conform to an inner surface ofthe top end of the sieve 200.

Accordingly, the material crushed through the crushing processingportion 600 is smoothly guided into the sieve 200 along the materialguide surface 620.

The various embodiments described above can be combined to providefurther embodiments. All of the U.S. patents, U.S. patent applicationpublications, U.S. patent applications, foreign patents, foreign patentapplications and non-patent publications referred to in thisspecification and/or listed in the Application Data Sheet areincorporated herein by reference, in their entirety. Aspects of theembodiments can be modified, if necessary to employ concepts of thevarious patents, applications and publications to provide yet furtherembodiments.

These and other changes can be made to the embodiments in light of theabove-detailed description. In general, in the following claims, theterms used should not be construed to limit the claims to the specificembodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims, but should beconstrued to include all possible embodiments along with the full scopeof equivalents to which such claims are entitled. Accordingly, theclaims are not limited by the disclosure.

1. A juice extraction module for a juicer, which includes a containerformed with a juice discharge port, a sieve positioned inside of thecontainer, a screw positioned inside of the sieve to extract juice froma material, and a lid coupled to a top end of the container and formedwith a input port through which the material is input, the juiceextraction module comprising: a crushing portion formed on a top end ofthe screw to be narrowed upward, the crushing portion having a crushingblade formed thereon; and a crushing processing portion connected to theinput port and formed in a bottom of the lid to be concave foraccommodating the crushing portion, wherein the crushing blade crushesthe material in advance within the crushing processing portion, whereinthe crushing blade is formed so that the material input through theinput port is crushed while a lateral side of the material is pushedoutwards, and the crushing processing portion is provided with an innersurface to hold the material pushed outwards by the crushing blade,whereby the material is crushed between the crushing blade and the innersurface of the crushing processing portion, wherein the crushingprocessing portion covers an entire bottom region of the input port atthe height of the crushing processing portion connected to a bottom endof the input port, wherein the inner surface of the crushing processingportion comprises a material guide surface continuing from the inputport and formed to be inclined toward a central axis of the crushingportion, whereby the material guide surface guides the material so thata lateral side of the material begins to be crushed by the crushingblade.
 2. The juice extraction module according to claim 1 wherein abottom end of the material guide surface conforms to an inner surface ofthe sieve.